1. Technical Field
The present invention generally pertains to articulating doors for motor vehicles. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a check strap assembly for a motor vehicle having a dust cover to prevent contamination of moving parts.
2. Discussion
In a conventional manner, passenger doors of motor vehicles are pivotally mounted to the vehicle body for movement between a fully open position and a closed position. Modernly, many such vehicle doors are designed to cooperate with a check strap which is operative for positively locating the door relative to the vehicle body at an intermediate position between the fully open position and the closed position. In situations where space laterally adjacent to a passenger door prohibits the door from fully opening, opening of the door to the intermediate position reduces incidents of unintentional damage to the door, to adjacent vehicles, or both.
In one common form, prior check straps for vehicle doors include a roller mounted to the vehicle body and an arm contoured to cooperate with the roller which is carried by the vehicle door. As the door is moved between its fully open position and its closed position, the arm and the roller cooperatively function to positively define an intermediate position at which the door may be located relative to the vehicle body. In another known arrangement, a check strap includes a checking mechanism that cooperates with a link member. Such an arrangement is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,173,991 which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
While known arrangements have proven to be commercially acceptable for certain application, they are all associated with specific disadvantages and thereby subject to improvement. For example, most known arrangements are susceptible to contamination from dust and other debris which may adversely affect operation of the check strap.
To a more limited extent, it has been heretofore proposed to provide a molded rubber boot for protecting a check strap housing from contamination. For example, such a molded rubber boot has been used on the 1993 Toyota Corolla. Stamped tabs extending from the check strap housing are received in slots provided in the rubber boot. During installation, the rubber boot is slipped over the metal tabs and the boot is pulled until the slots and tabs engage. Such an arrangement is disadvantageous in that attachment of the rubber boot to the housing is labor intensive. Furthermore, the rubber boot of this arrangement is relatively expensive to manufacture.